The Witch House - Salem

The Witch House is located on Essex Street in Salem, Massachusetts.  Historians debate the actual construction date, some claiming as early as 1620 and others as late as 1675.  What is known is that Judge Jonathan Corwin moved into the house in 1675 and lived here for the next 40 years.  Corwin was a local merchant and magistrate who is best remembered today as being one of the judges at the Salem Witch Trials in 1692.  His role in the trials is not completely known, but he did sign several arrest warrants, and during his service at the court 19 people were convicted and sentenced to death.  The court was eventually disbanded in October.  Corwin lived the rest of his days here until his death in 1717.  The house remained in his family until the mid-1800's.  By 1944 the house was in danger of being demolished when the road that runs past the house was being widened.  But local citizens stepped up and raised the money needed to move the house to its current location, some 35 feet away from where it once stood.  It was then restored and remodeled back to its original appearance.  In 1948 it opened as a museum.  Although Corwin's home bears the name Witch House, no trials or interrogations ever took place here.  The house's name relates only to his association with the witch trials, and inasmuch, is the only house still standing in Salem with direct ties to the Salem Witch Trials.  

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